Gagamba

Gagamba (meaning “spider”), subtitled The Spider Man, is a novel by award-winning and most widely translated^[1][2] Filipino author F. Sionil José. The novel is about a Filipino male cripple nicknamed “Gagamba”, a vendor of sweepstakes tickets in Ermita, Manila. After being buried in the wreckage, the seller survives an earthquake, together with two other fortunate characters, that occurred in the Philippines in the middle of July 1990.^[3] The novel simultaneously raised a “fundamental question” about the meaning of life and offers one “rational answer”.^[1][2]

Description

The whole day, the cripple Gagamba whose real name is Tranquilino Penoy sells sweepstakes at the entrance to the Ermita restaurant called Camarin. The eating-place became well-known because it was frequented by the so-called “beautiful people” that Gagamba sees daily. The “beautiful people” includes the “big men” who are politicians, journalists, generals, landlords, and “handsome call-girls”. During the July 1990 earthquake, all the dining “beautiful people” at the Camarin were killed and entombed. The only survivors from the Camarin were Gagamba and two other persons.^[1][2]

References

External links

• Gagamba F. Sionil José, a literary review by James Gomez at gomezjames.blogspot.com, December 12, 2009
• Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey at me.uvic.ca

F. Sionil José
The Rosales Saga	Po-on (1984) Tree (1978) My Brother, My Executioner (1973) The Pretenders (1962) Mass (1973)
Other novels	Ermita (1988) Gagamba (1991) Viajero (1993) Sin (1973) Ben Singkol (2001) Vibora! (2007) Sherds (2007)
Novellas	Three Filipino Women (Cadena de Amor - Obsession - Platinum) (1992)
Short stories	The God Stealer (1959)